Simple model for photonic bandgap microstructured optical fibers

Summary form only given. In this paper we investigate the spectral characteristics of microstructure optical fibers (MOF), in which the lattice constant is larger than the optical wavelength, index contrast is high, and the air-fill fraction is large. In this regime we show that the spectral characteristics are governed by the thickness of the first high index layer rather than the lattice constant. We develop a simple analytic model based on leaky mode guidance in dielectric hollow waveguides, which describes experimental results for spectral features of similar MOF.